‘Idiot Box’ Producer Rues Against Censor, Missing Stars

Shivnarayan Singh is learning the ways of Bollywood with his maiden project, Idiot Box. The producer cried foul over the film being stalled at the Censor and his lead actors, Sushant Singh and Hrishitta Bhatt’s non-participation in the promotion of the movie, at a press conference in Bombay on March 3.

The film, loosely based on the entrepreneurial exploits of television queen Ekta Kapoor, was scheduled for a January 15 release but got stalled because the Censors wanted him to delete the ‘Kapoor’ from the name of the character, Anekta Kapoor, and ‘Lalaji’ from Lalaji Films.

“The delay has caused me loss of money and mental agony. We agreed to all other deletions suggested by the Censor (a smoking scene, removal of brand logos) but deleting the names, Kapoor and Lalaji, was out of question,” Singh told the media.

The film was finally passed with the names intact by the CBFC’s revising committee. But Singh’s woes are still not over. “Despite repeated calls, my lead actors are not participating in the film’s promotion,” he fumed.

Besides Sushant Singh and Hrishitta Bhatt, the film stars Milind Gunaji and Jyoti Gauba. It releases on March 19.